Updated at 12:43 p.m., Friday, August 31, 2007
Gay Brewer, first Hawaiian Open champ, dies at 75
Associated Press
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Gay Brewer, the 1967 Masters champion who won 11 times on the PGA Tour including the first Hawaiian Open, died today at his home after a fight with lung cancer. He was 75.Brewer, who retired from the Champions Tour in 2000, had been battling cancer since October, fiancee Alma Jo McGuire said.
"It was incurable," she said. "It was easier on him and the family that it didn't go any longer than it did."
In June, Picadome Golf Course in Lexington, where Brewer learned to play, changed its name to honor him. Brewer played college golf at the University of Kentucky.
"He was just really personable," McGuire said. "I don't know anybody who didn't like him."
In 1965, Brewer won the Hawaiian Open at Waialae Country Club, the first PGA event held in Hawai'i. Brewer beat Bob Goalby with a birdie on the first playoff hole to win the $9,000 first prize. The following year, he finished tied for second behind Ted Makalena.
The Hawaiian Open was replaced by the Sony Open in Hawaii in 1999.
McGuire said services would be Wednesday at Kerr Brothers Funeral Home in Lexington.
